Samuel Gawith Perfection

Tin notes of aromatic English; sour, sweet and smoky. The ribbon cut looks is light brown, dark brown and black. Fairly dry, no prep needed. Burns slow with few relights. The strength mild, nic is mild. Sweet flavoring detected with tin note and taste, though light. Taste is med and consistent, with notes of smoky wood, earth, floral, slight sweet lemon, mildly spicy and a few sour notes. Room note is tolerable and after taste is ok.

I cannot imagine how experienced i should be to be able to notice the vanilla in this blend. The latakia here is the main star, among a good quality tobacco mixture. Burns well, easy to keep it lit, doesnt produces any moisture bubbling and delivers what should deliver, apart from the vanilla, which im searching for till now...

This is a nice English mixture, and should appeal to the fans of such things as Early Morning Pipe and the Red Raparee. I also expect it to put the noses out of joint of those who think an English mixture must have no added flavouring... But before you write it off without a try, you should know that 1. Samuel Gawith does not give a damn what you think, and 2. I really don't think I would have known it contained vanilla if I hadn't been told!

It has a lovely tin aroma, mild with prominent orientals, the sweetness is subtle. The mixture is uneven, but it seems to have been planned this way: the black leaf is a very fine ribbon, the brights are a coarser cut. Moisture content is on the high side when the seal is cracked, but subsides rapidly, indicating the absence of any humectants. Sam Gawith may be blending rule breakers and daredevils, but they are not Phillistines.

It takes the match with ease, starting out oriental dominant, just on the richer side of mild, but soft and luxurious. The sweetness from vanilla is barely perceptible. As the bowl progresses, it becomes milder, any hint (or autosuggestion) of vanilla vanishes, and the Virginia asserts itself. Near the end of the bowl, the Latakia becomes prominent, the flavour ending like a simple Virginia/Latakia - dry hay like Virginia and dusty smoke from the latakia. The plug of dottle is bone dry, and if its big, you can drop it back in and smoke most of it, leaving a few crumbs!

It's not heavy on the flavour or nicotine, but it can take you on a bit of a flavour journey through the bowl. I enjoy it in a larger pipe, such as my African Meerschaum "Jambo" or my freehand, the latter seems very apt for this free spirited blend!

I like this blend overall. The VA's seem to compete with the Lat as to which is more dominate. They are grassy and slightly citrus with some notes of toasted grain which must come from the browns. The lat is smokey and sweet. The Turkish has a dry woody note, a little sweet with a buttermilk sourness about them and a musty note comes and goes once in a while. The vanilla is present for me from the first puff to the bottom of the bowl. It is a little spicy (think the whole bean in food instead of just extract) and does complement the tobaccos rather than mute them. The room note is far from pleasant, however. It is rather strong and although I smoke only outside it was noticeable on the other side of the house for hours like it would linger in the air both the wife and neighbors had plenty of comments. Still a very good English aromatic offering that adds a change from the normal rotation. Worth a try if you are looking for something different to break up the norm.

Bought this in bulk. Hope the tin is better. Mine smelled nasty upon opening and tasted more like some kind of chemical than vanilla. Was really disappointed as all the other SG blends I've tried were awesome. Ended up in file 13.

Not as much as the name suggested but it is a good smoke, if you like English blends than probably you will like it. In order to appreciate this one you need to come back after a few different blends. Mellow, earthy and nutty with a good base, doesn't feel like overwhelmed but yet satisfying to the end. Reminds me of squadron but a lot more rounded. Can be smoked anytime, I always come back for it.

Like for so many others, for me the casing on this was almost undetectable. As an Oriental/latakia blend, this is a very nice but not overly interesting blend for me. The Orientals were well buried, and even though the Latakia was not too strong, it was still the major note by far. Since I know there are many tobaccos out there I would rate a 4, the question arises would I rebuy this particular tobacco, assuming my tastes don't change much more. In this case, the answer is probably not.

I had found that the SG line of flakes were very inconsistently sized. The cut would be thin for one flake and then thick for the next flake. Also the flakes were a little difficult to rub out. Lastly, I had trouble keeping this stuff lit and producing an acceptable amount of smoke. These flakes had really nice flavor though. Eventually dropped the whole line of flakes due to these drawbacks.

Ok..Whats up with the weird flavor additives!!

I should have known better than to put this in my pipe. A sample, unsolicited, from my B&M tempted me to lose my mind and think I could stray from my antipathy toward flavored Latakia blends. The esteem in which Samuel Gawith blends are normally held I will, probably unfairly, blame for my momentary insanity.

As with Esoterica's St. Ives, I had the identical, feeling of nausea trying to smoke this. Cross-over "English" blends and I do not do well together. When I want vanilla a once in six months cob load of 1Q suffices. Here the flavoring just ruins good tobacco to the point I can't really rate it outside of the flavoring. Sorry, guys.

Yes, the desert island test would find that I would quit smoking rather than suffer this one.